You can use any vegan bacon, cheese, and gravy you like to achieve a similar dish. However, this recipe show you how to make 1. Almond Cheese that is useful as a ricotta, curd, and cream cheese replacement. 2. Maple Coconut Bacon 3. Smoky hint-of-maple gravy.

Ingredients

~~FOR THE ALMOND CHEESE~~

1 cup whole almonds (blanched or peeled), soaked at least 2 hours

4oz (112g) extra firm tofu

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

3 tbsp unsweetened plain non-dairy yogurt or sour cream

1 tsp white miso

½ tsp salt

~~FOR THE MAPLE COCONUT BACON~~

2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes/chips

½-1 tbsp liquid smoke (to taste, start with less)

2 tbsp soya sauce

½ tsp smoked paprika

1-2 tbsp maple syrup (to taste, start with less)

~~FOR THE SMOKY MAPLE GRAVY~~

2½ tbsp olive oil

¼ cup all purpose flour

1½ cups vegetable broth (I use mushroom).

2 tbsp soya sauce

¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

⅛-1/4 tsp smoked paprika (to taste, start with less)

½ tsp - 1 tsp maple syrup (to taste, start with less)

~~ASSEMBLY~~

1 bag of frozen french fries of choice

Method

~~FOR THE CHEESE~~

Drain and rinse soaked almonds.

Into a food processor combine all the ingredients and process until the texture of a fine ricotta.

The cheese will be quite thick, not runny.

~~FOR THE COCONUT BACON~~

Preheat oven to 325'F

In a small bowl combine all the ingredients except the coconut.

Pour the smoky mixture over the coconut in another bowl. Toss to mix until the coconut soaks up most of the liquid.

Turn the coconut out on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Spread it evenly around, trying to keep it to one layer.

Sprinkle with salt, if desired.

Bake at 325'F for about 15-25 minutes, stirring very well every 5 minutes.

The bacon is done when it's bacon coloured. It quickly crisps up as it cools. Be very careful it doesn't burn, it goes from not quite done to burned to a crisp very quickly.

Store in an airtight container. If it loses its crispiness, you can reheat it quickly in the oven to crisp it back up.

~~FOR THE GRAVY~~

In a medium saucepan over medium, heat up the olive oil.

Once hot, whisk in the flour to make a roux. Stir for 3 minutes.

Slowly whisk in the broth, whisking constantly to get rid of any flour lumps.

Once all the broth is whisked in, cook for about 2 minutes.

Stir the pepper, soya sauce.

Add in the smoked paprika and maple syrup, just a little at a time - tasting as you add. You don't want the smokiness or the sweetness to be very pronounced.

Continue cooking, whisking until the gravy thickens to the desired consistency.

~~ASSEMBLY~~

Cook your french fries according to the package instructions.

On plates or a platter, arrange your fries.

Dollop teaspoons of the cheese all over the fries.

Pour the gravy over the fries and cheese. The heat from the gravy and fries will soften the cheesy allowing its creaminess to spread throughout each bite.

Crumble the coconut bacon over top.

Marvel at the wonder of vegan maple bacon poutine and serve to your admiring guests!

Recipe by Kindness Kitchen at http://kindnesskitchen.ca/maple-bacon-poutine/